This invention relates generally to magnetic components and methods for making the magnetic components.
Magnetic components, such as inductors or transformers, are important components in many electrical circuits for supplying powers to different parts in the electrical circuits. Magnetic components typically comprise at least one coiled electrical conductor of at least one turn and at least two terminals to allow connection to an electrical circuit. Inductors and transformers have similar structures and differ in that an inductor generally provides an energy storage function, and a transformer generally provides an isolation and/or voltage step up/down function and includes at least one coil with two end terminals and at least one intermediate tap terminal, and two or more electrically isolated conductors wound around a core. The energy storage and transformation functions may be combined together to form a coupled inductor.
During operation, in order to achieve better performance, it is advantageous that the inductors or the transformers have a higher quality factor “Q” and lower flux leakage. However, in current applications, many inductors or transformers are formed via winding wire conductors around a core, which have poor fill factor and result in a lower quality factor. Furthermore, costs for fabricating such inductors or transformers may be also higher.
Therefore, there is a need for a new and improved method for making magnetic components having a higher quality factor and lower flux leakage.